Journal

After surgery, our bodies are on the miraculous adventure of regaining our strength and healing our bodies. Humans are unique and we have an amazing regenerative capability in our tissues. Did you know our liver is the only organ which can regenerate from as little as 25% to its entire mass potential. This is a healthy liver to which I am referring.

Wellness strategies to bounce back from surgery will go a long way in minimizing the recovery period. If we struggle to heal after surgery, our blood is weak and we may be prone to longer periods of recovery and infection. This covers all invasive surgery and tissue healing, in general.

As always, partner with your medical doctor in all aspects of your wellness strategy. Any contraindications to medications are best advised by your physician. Suggestions, here, are general health and wellness additions which foster ease in stress of invasive procedures and also facilitate good blood flow and rich opportunity to relax and repair. Here are a few basic considerations before going in for surgery or any in-office procedure:

Make a plan.

Prepare for your post-op experience with setting up a plan for meals. Do you know someone who can prepare home-cooked soups? If not, make some ahead of time and freeze for eating after surgery.

Ensure that your pantry includes fresh ginger, turmeric, lemons, rice, peas, carrots, and other simple, easy to digest ingredients. Adding flavorings of ginger, turmeric, basil, tarragon, fennel, cumin, coriander, black pepper, and sea salt will stir feelings of hunger and increase your appetite while you are eating. Sometimes after surgery, we may find that we lose moisture and our appetite can wane.

Nourishing our bodies is imperative to the best possible healing of tissues after any procedure or invasive surgery. Liquids of water, tea, soups, coconut water and some juices hydrate and increase the function of our digestive organs. With good hydration, we are better able to absorb nutrients and build good blood.

Broths & Liquids

Good blood nourishes tissues and organs and is needed for a speedy recovery with no risk of delay or infection. Blood flow and vital healthy blood can be improved with additions of bone broth and small portions of red meat. Additions of liver may be a big boost to instantly improve vitality.

Vegetarians may find the substitutes of garlic broth with kombu may go far to heal tissues while carrrying a clear conscience into mealtime. However, there is no substitute for the tissues of another animal to revive the energetic mass of tissues which are calibrating to repair and heal post-surgery.

Magical ingredients in broths like these offer boosters to your immunity and provide dynamic support for recuperating. Check out these wonder ingredients:

Chag mushrooms

Reishi mishrooms

Saffron

Parsley

Cilantro

Basil

Holy basil

Additions of water, and simple easy-to-digest foods give ease to the digestive work your body needs to do to make healthy blood full of nutrients. Warm, simple foods give way to ease digestion. If you have a slow blood pressure, facilitate adding minerals through adding sea salt, ghee, bone broth, sea vegetables. Sources of electrolytes of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and phosphate also facilitate enzymes to complete reactions in the body (digestion, hormone function, immunity). These carry electrical charges which elevate the performance of muscles and nerves through stimulation. Electrolytes help to retain the correct amount of water for plump, vital tissues.

If you have high blood pressure, certainly check with your doctor before adding electrolytes. Take a careful approach to partnership with your medical doctor during this critical time of healing well. For those with high blood pressure, additions of cooling liquids like pomegranate, cranberry juice, and coconut water add a cooling nature with additional jolt of nutrition in the required liquids we need to heal ourselves. Coconut water is one of the nutritional best sources of potassium and also includes all of the other electrolytes mentioned above.

Vitamin D - Vegans can rest happy!

With the importance of adding electrolytes to our diet to regulation reactions, we can't leave out an important factor in absorbing these effectively to maintain normal blood calcium levels, which build strong tissues, bones, teeth, hair, and eye health. Getting outside in the sun is an effective way to naturally add Vitamin D to our diets. Between a simple routine of going on a daily walk in the sunlight and eating a balanced inclusive of fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel), egg yolks, and fortified juices and milk.

If you are a vegan, you'll need need to add mushrooms to get a healthy food source with good dose of Vitamin D. Maitake and portabello contain more Vitamin D per IU than fatty fish. This is a great reason to embrace mushrooms in your diet, even when taken as tea.

Oftentimes, the elderly also need to be out in the sun, as time indoors can be safe for those with limited mobility. Ayurveda teaches us that year-round time outdoors offers opportunities for fresh air, connecting with the elements, and orienting to nature is a healthful activity. Vitamin D and enhanced healing can be a great benefit to daily time outdoors.

Food Combine for optimum digestive fire (agni).

Be mindful of food combinations and the order in which you eat a variety of foods. During this special time of post-operative care, be careful of incompatible foods as outlined here. Some food combinations which are produce ama and are not well known and commonly part of American diet are these:

AVOID nightshades: tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, all peppers (these can be acidic, starchy, and difficult to digest) -- these are also incompatible with dairy, cucumber, and melon (watch out for Greek Salad, tomato-watermelon feta salad)

Rest & Relaxation

Rest and relaxation are important in the early days of recuperation. Allowing time to heal and rejuvenate naturally, we must rest. When a few days have past, it is important to get moving. Again, partnering with your doctor care team is important during this time.

Moving the body facilitates continuous blood flow, avoiding stagnation of energy and is the best action to take in healing. Simple movements of standing, walking, and shifting weight from one leg to the other can offer a balancing treatment of healthful activity. As you improve your strength, your activity will increase naturally as you heal. Offering yourself time to work through pain and know that it won't always be like this is important for your mental health. A breathing and meditation practice can help detach from pain and elevate your moment-to-moment experience.

Support

Enjoy the company of visitors and friends. Being social is uplifting and builds strong relationships. Bonding with friends and family during this vulnerable time will deepen relationships and help you feel supported during a time when you really need it. Accept company for short visits and let them know you need rest after a good chat and catch up. Enjoy feeling admired and cared for.

At this unique time, you may need to splurge a bit and hire folks to help you. Friends and family can only do so much. It may be time to reach out online for services to help make life easier during these weeks and months after surgery. Adding a meal delivery service like San Francisco's Good Eggs or even Amazon can alleviate grocery visits. There are a myriad of meal services in almost every area of the country. My dear sister let me know that she enjoys Hello Fresh in my hometown area of rural Tennessee. It has never been simpler to make your life a little easier!

Well Pantry services are available in San Francisco. We provide needed support to individuals seeking to curate ingredients to optimize healing during this fragile time of recuperation. Check out our Pre & Post Surgery package to enjoy the luxury of meal preparation in your home. Food prepared in your home offers the freshest ingredients with little consideration of time-temperature matters of food safety. At this time of healing, eating foods prepared outside of the home open up risks to immune-compromised individuals like a post-surgery patient.

As I finishing easing out of a deep cleanse, I discover a more vibrant appearance. Blood is flowing and my cheeks seem rosy. Going into a deep cleanse with lots of broth and teas, I included more twists in yoga and times of rest. To recharge the mind and spirit, I sat in my garden, weeded, and played with my children. These simple activities evoked energy from inside my body. The hormonal responses rippling through my veins help me feel more grounded emotions.

I enjoyed the clarity of thought and deeper reflection allowed for a ripening of detail in the projects to which I am attending. Greater progress feels imminent. I have feelings of evenness. This is a welcome emotion, as I am often functioning in a problem solving, adrenaline-rushed busy urban lifestyle.

I have done cleanses on my own over the years and this one was deeper in austerity. This time I tried Yogidetox in a group forum with other yogis, I received empathy from fellow Yogidetoxers. Some have participated in this for several years. Our leader, Cate Stillman, this is her official 16th year doing the cleanse. With all of this cleansing experience, it helped to keep my integrity pure during this cleanse. A friend of mine invited me to do this cleanse. Soko is a mentor to me. She continues with this program every year because she studied yoga and Ayurveda with Cate in San Francisco. It is a small world!

Through Yogidetox and Cate Stillman's other teachings, I have learned even more about mentorship and dynamic group environments . She is an online guru and she brings Ayurveda to us through a magnificent online forum and free content. Supported within the group, I felt comfortable sharing unique-to-me feelings and learned that others could empathize with me. I

In my own reflections upon exercise, I learned that my body is in good alignment. Yay~ this is good for bone performance. Maintaining good energy in the comportment of our bodies, allows better energy flow without stagnation. Stagnation = poor energy and blood flow and can settle into different chakras or areas of the body. Good posture allows for fluid energy flow from the universe into you, and from you into the universe. When flow is in discord, stagnation can happen and you will be on a track for aches, pains, and illness.

A genuine fast cleanses the body, mind and soul. It crucifies the flesh and to that extent sets the soul free.

— Mahatma Gandhi

Adding a seasonal cleanse to our diet, allows an opportunity to shift samskaras. Samskaras, in Sanskrit, is known as "the wheel of life", or "daily habits or rituals", or "mental expression or recollection or physiological imprint". Shifting samskaras, creates fresh newness to our lives. We will emanate vitality in our appearance.

Have you ever been struck by someone being negative, slow, sad, and/or down in their behavior? Of course, you have, we all know someone like this. Then, time goes forward and you see them in a year's time. You notice that something amazing has happened and they seem like a brand new person. They have a new skip in their step. They are positive and striving for connection. This reflects a shift in samskara toward vitality and positivity.

At the end of this cleanse, I realize the best changes that I notice are in my emotional sensitivities. I have had vivid dreams in the past three weeks. New awarenesses in taste, hunger, and nuances I don't normally experience were illuminating to new truths.

The deep part of my cleanse was last week. In reflection, I have a deeper awareness of the simple daily ritual at only 3 meal times, allows the building and stoking of good digestive fire. During this week, I ate oatmeal, quinoa, and millet porridge in the mornings. Lunch and dinner was a mostly liquid diet of things like:

bone broth with small amounts of Ayurvedic herbs,

dandelion root and greens from my garden

lavender and saffron tea to warm and calm the body and mind

lemon water (warm to hot) to ignite the digestive fire and maintain good pH in your stomach for improved nutrient absorption

salty water to replenish minerals and facilitate elimination

coffee nearly every day to maintain my addiction an stay out of anxiety about not being able to have and also to facilitate elimination

Through elimination, we facilitate the moving on of toxins and undigested ama (stagnated undigested food, emotions, environmental toxins lingering in our system). From all of this toxin release, I feel these benefits in my body. Visible signs of purging (acne and inflammation) have returned to healed skin. I had bad breath and was a bit funky in in arm pits. My kids told me so. I didn't use hair products and used minimal skin serums and creams. I tend to over do it with these and what I noticed with this cleanse, my skin is more vibrant and bright. I am presenting more vibrant appearance from within through: a healthy sheen and good skin tone with rosy cheeks.

Last week during the deep cleanse, my skin developed a healthy sheen, but looked darker than usual in appearance. This is a sign of adrenal fatigue. Hormones coursing through my body are also helping to excrete toxins out of my skin's pores. Hydrating continuously throughout the day was refreshing and seemed correct during this time of fasting. Additions of natural electrolytes in coconut water & salty water helped. I found hot or warm water to be quenching and often I didn't take tea or herbs. The warm water was felt stirring and warming my blood almost instantly.

An increased feeling, a coming to the senses offers a deeper awareness is stimulating and uplifting.

An increased feeling, a coming to the senses offers a deeper awareness is stimulating and uplifting. I also experience times when leaning into these feelings, I sometimes become frustrated, tired, and grumpy. Sometimes I would feel pride in exploring my emotions in this way and would feel the energy of living in the flow of nature. The heightened sensory awareness allows me to understand the nuance and complications of life with peace of mind that this will also change.

Not seeking an evening glass of wine or alcohol to relax, I enjoyed the nourishment of a mango lassi, water with wedges of citrus slices, and bubble water. This cleansing was a practice of relaxation and reflection for me. I enjoyed my time more fully with my family. I found that the company of my husband and children were very welcome and comfortable. This was lovely, as I sometimes become beleaguered with domestic life. Vital to our health and well-being, relaxation and reflection allow us to recharge and absorb all of the nuances of living a complicated lush and satisfying life.

Meditation is a daily habit for me. I can always find a way to sit for five minutes. If five minutes go by perhaps just a few more minutes. Once you get into a routine of meditation, you want to make sure you can take time every day to sit. I find that the benefits are exponential compared to the time invested. Daily practice allows me to sink into my zone of balancing the mind more quickly and without too much ceremony. With this cleanse, I found that I was tired in the mornings. It felt better to rest more than my morning yoga/meditation routine. This turned out to really affect how my days went. Without this centering and grounding ritual, it affected my day more than I could have imagined. At this point, being able to check in with the online forum, was incredibly supportive, as I simply felt vulnerable and could feel pent up emotions rippling through and out of my body. This was apparent to me in a way that I have never felt! Wow.

I am now re-entering my regularly scheduled life and taking care to introduce simple additions of foods to my diet through sauces and liquified foods. I made a radical carrot soup yesterday and re-discovered the art of poaching foods in their own juices or oil. Flavorful and robust, these simple ways to add flavor have been a great addition to the continuation of broths and teas. Adding a little corn tortilla and I had a little foccacia yesterday. It felt so filling. Wheat and corn expand inside our stomachs and the cells continue expanding, until thoroughly digested.

I have been enjoying a fun weekend of baking scones, and making gnocchi for houseguests. I have also tempered these indulgences with dandelion greens and stinging nettles to continue facilitating the cleansing ritual and also take advantage of the naturally seasonal ingredients which are part of a good spring cleanse and a healthy diet.

Springtime, post-cleanse, this is a perfect time to explore new practices in my kitchen. Kitchen Sadhana practice of healthy foods and ingredients from which to work. Kitchen Sadhana is a beautifying opportunity to create a space where you love to work to nourish others. It takes time to perform well in fun kitchen activities like: cooking, tasting, cleaning, and creating nourishing food. Discover the domestic magic which nourishes, makes memories, and delights the body.

Continuing these cleansing habits in all areas of life: mind, body, and spirit -- will allow for ease in energy flow through life. It is very much like maintaining a vehicle. Daily and regular maintenance allows for long and lasting performance. Stagnant energy can build up over time, but is difficult to do with discipline in diet, exercise and meditation.

Applying mindful cleansing rituals to our daily habits prepare us for the seasonal shifts in a powerful way. Looking ahead to an Autumnal Cleanse and understanding the path from today to then will include daily habits of cleansing foods, and a dedicated yoga and meditation practice to spur along ease in energy flow and thwart stagnation from settling into the body's tissues.

Vitality and strong immunity is a natural state for healthy humans. Maintenance of good health and vitality is the best course of action to sustain the good state of a healthy balanced lifestyle. Those who have the good fortune of experiencing ease and fresh vitality may be oblivious to signs and symptoms of imbalance, which may lead to progression of a chronic illness.

Ayurveda is an energetic science or philosophy passed down orally and then captured in Sanskrit writings from early sages and shaped by early religions steeped in nature for the past 5,000 years. Part of the first documented writings of humans, Ayurveda brings a study of life that has been proven for thousands of years to promote a healthful balanced state of being. The state of balance is ideal and enhances, both, our current state, as well as traits we are born. At conception, we are perfectly matter with DNA potential. This state is known as prakruti. Once we are conceived, our bodies are in a perpetual state of adaptation to our environment, also known as vikruti.

Adaptation is a human animal condition, to which we may or may not give focus. Adaptation needs little thought, because your body is naturally doing this every moment of the day. For example, when you are in a sunny spot for long enough, your skin may burn or develop more melatonin to adapt to the sun’s exposure. The change of color and feel of the skin is your body’s language that you need to protect your skin to create balance in your skin’s health.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change." -- Charles Darwin

Becoming sensitive to this kind of body language and understanding your unique body’s language are the keys to preventing the progression of chronic illness. We may not always receive body language through signs and symptoms, but often times we do receive these signals. Being aware and educating yourself about these signs and symptoms is a gift not only to you, but a gift to those who you love. The longer we can live productive healthful lives, the more quality time and joy we can share with our loved ones and our community, at large.

Understanding balance.

When in balance, we feel energetic, awake, fresh, and bright. Our outlook is positive, and we have a plan for our days. When out of balance, we may have too much or too little energy. We may be too involved or lethargic. It may be difficult to get out of the bed, or we may stay up too late in the evenings. These are signs of imbalance and over the long term, will lead to a state of compromised immunity. If left unchecked, these signs (your body's unique language) will most likely lead to a chronic illness.

In our current state of Western culture, you may find these realities to be accepted. The realities of staying up too late, working unnatural shifts, or accepting lethargy or an existence of low energy. Culturally, those around us may need to maintain steady adrenaline from an overactive lifestyle, while others may be coping with depression through taking Western medicine. These tactics are adaptive in nature for survival.

Are these adaptive measures promoting health and vitality? Surviving on adrenal will lead to adrenal fatigue or dysfunction and affect every other organ affected by the thyroid and adrenal glands. Anti-depressants are taken with the acceptance of side effects which may last long term and are unnatural to a baseline state of being. These are examples of survival in our modern world.

Perhaps this is the real question: How do we adapt to our modern life while also promoting health and vitality? This is a question that propels our adaptation into evolution. Adaptation is a natural state of being. It is constant and fluid whether we are ready for it or not. When we experience too much or too little energy, we are in a state of imbalance. Imbalance creates stagnant, depleted, or burning energy.

Energetic and elemental qualities in nature are part of the matter and DNA that our bodies are made of, known as our constitution. Our constitution or nature is defined in the three doshas: pitta, vata, and kapha. This is a truth and you don't have to believe it or be in disbelief, as it continues. Understanding energetic science or philosophy is helpful to deconstruct the process of inflammation, which is the crux of chronic illness. Inflammation is a product of burning energy, known as pitta. One of the three doshas of Ayurveda. Let's examine all of these here:

Pitta doshais the fire and water elements. Pitta expresses intelligence, energetic drive, charisma, and executive functioning. When pitta is out of balance, inflammation is imminent and presents itself as pain, redness, swelling, acne, headaches, digestive disorders, cancer, and in a myriad of other signs and symptoms. Strong bodies with muscle definition are pitta dominant.

Vata dosha is the air and ether elements. Vata expresses creativity, lightness, ethereal ease and could almost always use some grounding. When out of balance, vata presents flighty behavior, absent-mindedness, over-sharing, clumsiness, excitedness, and can lead to destructiveness, lack of control, lack of focus. In the body, vata presents a being of underweight, dry tissues: constipation and colon disorders, creaking joints, arthritis, thin, dry and wrinkly skin, leading to inflammation of body's tissues and organs. Light and lean bodies are vata dominant.

Ideally, each person has the capability of being tri-doshic, encompassing some of each energetic quality. Throughout our days, we will experience a dominant energy at any given moment, depending upon how we are navigating in our lifestyle. Prakruti is the beginnings of human potential. This is the state of the matter and DNA, which come together during conception, encompassing the energy that brought the two beings together. Including the lunar and astrological calendar, and all elemental influence of local weather and time of day, prakruti is part of many variables in the universe. Development and continued adaptation to life in the womb presents vikruti, which is known as our current state, or state of imbalance. Drawing from prakruti, we understand our initial potential. When we understand our dominant vikruti, consideration of our prakruti allows us to define ways of seeking balance.

My personal experience.

I was conceived with vata energy. I am the product of an unplanned pregnancy. Luckily my parents were married and offered some structure after I was born. As a child, my vikruti continued as vata dominant. This was presented as I have a medical history many childhood illnesses, light weight, poor digestion, and full of anxiety. As an adult, my vikruti has shifted to pitta. I have pursued leadership, fundraising, and very driven positions. Working as a pastry chef, I enjoyed collaborative leadership and directing of others. This was a good partner with my baseline vata prakruti, as it presents as creative, light, quick, and multi-tasking. However, in recent years, my pitta vikruti has presented opportunity for burn-out, overworking, driving too hard for initiatives and I have experienced chronic illness. Press wood, this is my first experience with this and it has been a challenge.

After consulting with multiple celebrated doctors, I found myself immersed in the mystery of what was happening with my signs and symptoms. Was it an allergy? Did I have a scary life-threatening illness? How do I recover? Is this related to being in my mid-40's? After blood tests, and follow ups, no one had the best answer. I was told an out-of-pocket expense (I have great PPO insurance, mind you), would be $1,500 to have an conclusive allergy test to know what I may be allergic. This seemed to be a poor use of resources and I decided to become my own patient. I am still working with my Ayurvedic practitioner to refine lifestyle and herbal actions to adapt to my current state, and this has been the best course of action by far, after experiencing signs and symptoms of inflammation for the last 8 months.

Adaptive lifestyle = self awareness.

Understanding our bodies' baseline energy allows us to better manage how we comport ourselves and take care of ourselves in a way that promotes good health. Chronic illness takes time to develop and having a connectedness to our own personal nature allows us to see signs and symptoms before the development of chronic illness comes forward. Some things are out of our control: pollution, unknown factors, congenital, and family history. These can lead to hereditary and unexplained illness. That is not what this blog post is about. Elements out of our control can present opportunities to better understand our bodies. We can offer adaptive lifestyle measures to maximize our daily existence and healthful potential.

Without a connection to our daily habits and body functions we are victims of our own lives. Some things are out of our control. However, we design our own lifestyles by circumstance or by intentional behavior. With this in mind, we can hone in on five energy-enhancing habits to prevent chronic illness from beginning. If you have a chronic illness, adding these five habits will help create balance and realize your body's maximum potential.

Breathe. Oxygen is essential to sustaining life. Breathing oxygenates our tissues and offers a life force that is both calming and meditative. Yogis take part in elevated actions of breathing like pranayama, creating a cooling sensation and benefiting from the body's response by enhancing synapses in the brain, and improved cardiovascular health. Breathing is a simple activity and when done with others can unify and support groups of individuals. Improved oxygen eases our bodies' functions and allows for healing repair of tissues, which our bodies do naturally when we sleep.

Exercise. Movement is critical to organ and tissue function. Simple walking and yoga improve our bodies' digestion and offer improved simple alignment to our skeletons to hold our tissues in place. Over time, our bodies are pulled by gravity and may be misshapen from lack of movement. Proper organ placement allows for maximum potential function and ease in moving pain free. 60% of our bodies' energy is dedicated to digesting food. Let's consider this, more than half of our energy is used to absorb nutrients and excrete waste from our bodies. Exercise increases our energy and moves our bodies to facilitate and ease digestion, as well as spend and build energy in a balanced way.

Exercise is also the best opportunity to check in with your body's performance. Are you feeling bloated? Does your shin ache? Do you have lower back pain? Do you notice that you feel stronger or weaker in your arms or legs? Connecting with yourself through exercise helps you gauge what you may need to adjust in your daily diet and routine.

Feel hungry. Routine meals are a means to restore and maintain good agni, our bodies' source of fire and intelligence. Agni is considered a life force and critically important to our overall health. Tapping into this feeling of hunger refines our energy on a cellular level, as agni discerns which substances enter our cells and tissues, and which substances should be removed as waste. Maintaining a routine with meal times (2-3 daily, depending upon your constitution), eliminating snacks, and sipping water or tea between meals fuels the fire to perform at your highest potential. Clarity in your diet will result in clarity in your mind, as well.

Meditate. An exercise for the brain and clearing the clutter in our thoughts optimizes brain performance. When practicing daily meditation on a long term basis, we eventually experience the benefits of meditation in our day to day lives through intentionality. With benefits reaching beyond the calming of our mind and bodies to the greatest potential of blossoming as social beings and elevating our local and global communities. A daily meditation practice has been found to offer a source of strength to those experiencing chronic illness and PTSD. Generously giving yourself this opportunity to develop a practice as a well person, allows for strength building in the mind and the capacity to calm the body to reduce inflammation and be strong in our personal constitutions striving for balance.

Rest and reflect. An early bed time is the best course of action to reset our routines. Finding the discipline to organize our lives in the circadian rhythm of nature aligns our bodies with living things in our natural environment. Humans are diurnal in nature, as are so many animals. Reflecting upon the day at sun's set and resting with the moon's light offers mental organization and natural support to our organs. Upon night fall, the human body is oriented to rest, refresh, rebuild and heal tissues. Allowing the unique needs of your body to rest 6 - 10 hours daily at night sets yourself up for optimum digestive and tissue performance. Protecting your digestive performance in this way enables all of the nutrients from the fresh organic foods you've eaten (hopefully) to be absorbed with maximum potential. This daily routine is critical for long term vitality.

Reflecting upon the day and quite literally, resting your eyes in the mirror upon our personal appearance is another opportunity to check in with yourself. Do you have circles under your eyes? You may need more sleep. Is your hair shiny or dull? You may need more protein or good oils in your diet. Do you look bloated or gaunt? You may need to add more fruits, vegetables, or proteins to your diet. Do you have cracks on your tongue? You may need to hydrate more often.

Seasonal shifts require adaptation.

With these five actions in mind, you may have lifestyle flaws that must be considered or need adjustment. Adaptation to your daily lifestyle is important, but can only go so far for long term health. The habit of a busy lifestyle must be adjusted according to the season, which will offer the natural inclinations of activities in this way:

Winter offers more time at home and we are not as active.

Spring presents difficulty in getting back to a regenerative, livelier time in life.

Summer is highly active and an exciting time of the year.

Fall is a preparation for Winter's slowing down.

With these seasonal shifts, our bodies are in a constant mode of adaptation. The five habits of breathing, exercising, good agni, meditation, and rest each develop a resource of equilibrium from which to draw. Chronic illness can come on slowly with signs and symptoms from your body's unique-to-you personal language. You are the expert about what is happening in your body and will be your best advocate during your annual check up with your physician or practitioner.

Journal to relate to yourself and others.

Using these daily habits to deepen your reflection in a journal will be beneficial for years to come. Keeping a daily personal health journal including an outline of your daily meals, exercise, sensations you feel after eating and moving, personal health goals, and concerns to share with your medical or Ayurvedic practitioner will offer a completeness in your dialogue and relationship. After keeping a journal for one year, you will be able to reference continuing concerns you may have that come up each season. Reviewing this during a time of reflection will help you stay on the path of preventing chronic illness and developing your wellness practice.

Many productive and self-aware people practice the habit of journaling for self reflection. Deepening the connection with yourself and learning your unique body language is building a foundation to support these five habits to prevent chronic illness. Carving out this time to develop a personal wellness practice is the best investment of time for relating to yourself, those you love, and your local community.

Spring is a natural time of year for the body to cleanse itself from excess fat intake over the winter months. Lighter flavors present themselves in nature in late Winter with citrus fruit abundance in the markets. At the height of this season now, varieties like Cara Cara, Blood Orange, and Satsuma are plentiful at this time and so delicious and mildly sweet. Upon digestion, citric acids act as a cell cleaner, brightening and cleansing the digestive tract. Adding warm lemon water, helps facilitate this natural cleansing action.

Yogis take this natural opportunity to deepen this natural season of cleansing through Yin Yoga, eating modest foods, and simplifying the days with self-nurturance. Taking care to help yourself with this natural transition of new life in nature facilitates adapting to the seasonal shifts with ease.

It can be helpful to add supplemental water to your diet, as your body is better able to rid of natural toxins that have built up over the rich diet of Fall and Winter. All animals in nature do this, as new life presents natural ingredients to cleanse our palettes and digestive tracts for more active outdoor lifestyles.

Taking a moment to appreciate your animal nature evokes a sense of calm and peace. This is an anti-inflammatory activity, stimulating the thyroid in all the right ways, and balancing hormones. Inducing production of dopamine, connecting with nature has the potential to become an addictive behavior, which may not be such a terrible one to have.

Being a part of a natural awakening to warmer days and easier life outdoors is a simple way to detoxify your mind from the continuous onslaught of problem-solving, scheduling, and to-do lists. Clearing your mind on a regular basis throughout the day is a cleansing ritual that is maybe more important than drinking a green smoothie.

Adding seasonal flavors to your days, drinking more water, and eliminating alcohol and processed foods is an act of self nurturance which would offer brilliant results to your body also be a cleansing time with the benefits of detoxifying your body's matter on a cellular level.

Deepening this practice with restorative yoga postures and deep twists, gives way to release of toxins. With greater awareness of cellular detoxification, providing benefits to joints, skin, hair, and muscle performance. You can see and feel the difference in your appearance and so do others. Your body is working with more energy and quite literally vibrating positive clean energy into the world.

अम, Sanskrit for ama, is defined as "that which is not digested", toxin, poison, and other ways of expressing this important term in Ayurveda. Spring and Autumn are the months to cleanse and remove ama. Energetically, this presents stagnant energy. obstacles to overcome, headaches, and undigested food. Understanding these signs and symptoms and knowing when it is time to deepen the Earth's natural cleansing cycle, helps elevate your personal body's performance.

I am doing Yogidetox cleanse with a kind friend who invited me. Cate Stillman is inspiring and I am happy to be a part of this 2018 cleanse. I am deepening this natural cleansing time through home Spring cleaning and beautifying our space. I am taking longer walks and playing with our dog, Luna.

I took this photo cacti growing wild on a hillside. I look forward to these blooms every year and can't help but wonder if I could forage some of the petals to make a tea. I need to research this! However, the beauty of these rare blooms are magnetic and offer a positive visual and energetic experience for all around them.

Drinking lemon water, and simmering pots of rose geranium leaves and rosemary is freshening my personal diet. Adding more dynamic bone broths, including brahmi and ashwagandha and taking broth as tea is offering collagen-infused hydration that is nourishing to tissues and cellular plumping. Hydrating through out the day with diuretic drinks like hibiscus tea, green, parsley, and dandelion helps facilitate elimination of ama, or toxins. Replenishing with natural electrolytes in coconut water and adding sea salt to bites of food is important, as the diuretic effects can be depleting without proper additional nourishment. Dates seem to offer the right amount of sweet to satisfy and keep me interested in maintaining a cleansing state for a few weeks.

Being a part of the Yogidetox online group, allows for deeper connections with myself, as I reflect in the group. I learn from others and feel supported in the nuances of heightened sensory awareness and development. This can produce emotions that are unfamiliar and it is great to see these as common with other group members.

In nature, sensory awareness and development is a desired activity, as we become better able to survive through heightened awareness. Sharpening our senses benefits your personal experience and brain performance. This is an important ritual at a time in human history when we are continually distracted with technology and communication devices. At no other time has there been so many ways to reach OUT to others in the world. Balancing this orientation to the outside world with additional opportunities to turn inward with appreciation and simple awareness is important for optimum human performance and individual longevity.

Consider how you are already naturally cleansing in the world and reach out to me to learn how I can help you revive your pantry and develop a seasonal kitchen sadhana practice to enliven your senses and home life.

ब्रह्मि, Sanskrit for Brahmi. This herb is also known as Bacopa, Babies tear, Bacopa monnieri, Hespestis monniera, Nirbrahmi, Indian Pennywort, Jalanevari and water hyssop are the other names that are used for Brahmi. In English it is commonly called as the 'Herb of Grace'. Hindu meanings of "the power of immense being", "the energy of universal consciousness", and the "creative energy or intelligence of the universe". hint to the brilliant benefits from taking this herbal action. Brahmi was the name derivation for Lord Brahmi.

Native to North India and grows wild in marshy areas near streams and ponds, this plant is easy to propagate and is cultivated for medicinal use. The oval-shaped leaves are used as tea or in powder form or capsules. Adaptive in nature, this is a known body adaptogen, used to improve the health of the adrenal system, the system that's in charge of managing your body's hormonal response to stress. Brahmi grows in both the sun and shade. Interestingly, this is known to be a favorite food of elephants.

Historically, Brahmi has been used by yogis to enhance meditation and in traditional Indian medicines for centuries. for the treatment of bronchitis, chronic cough, asthma, hoarseness, arthritis, rheumatism, backache, fluid retention, blood cleanser, chronic skin conditions, constipation, hair loss, fevers, digestive problems, depression, mental and physical fatigue and many more. It is used to treat all sorts of skin problems like eczema, psoriasis, abscess and ulceration. It stimulates the growth of skin, hair and nails. It is taken to get relief from stress and anxiety. Rich in Vitamin C, It is also high in Vitamin B and K, magnesium, and calcium. It has been found to be extremely effective for wound healing and tissue repair - even being used in India to treat second and third degree burns. A powerful antioxident, it has been reported to reduce oxidation of fats in the blood stream, which is the risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.

Brahmi is considered as the main rejuvenating herb for the nerve and brain cells. Traditionally used to promote the intellect, enhance mental performance, and support proper function of the nervous system. The leaves are highly sattvic (pure, harmonious) and historically have been eaten by yogis to assist in meditation. Brahmi is said to improve concentration, memory, and alertness. It is a natural blood purifier and helps support clear, healthy skin. Brahmi is also famous for promoting healthy, lustrous hair and is often applied as an oil to enhance appearance. The herb is cooling and relaxing, making it an excellent tonic for pitta. It also calms vata in the mind and reduces excess kapha in the body.

Those with predisposition to anxiety and nervousness would do well to include Brahmi on a long term basis. Though this is a tri-doshic herb offering better body performance, there are contraindications for those predisposed to diabetes, on cholesterol controlling drugs, pregnant or those with over-active thyroid. This is a common drug given to children in India to enhance brain performance and enhanced potential. It is important to work with your doctor and someone trained to understand herbal actions.

Contact me to explore this and landscape of herbs, tinctures, and essentials to enhance your body's performance. An Ayurveda Consultation is a great beginning to developing a Well Pantry lifestyle approach to curate your meals and fine tune your daily experience.

The time is now to take charge of your health. Spring blossoms remind us of the change in our lives and new life is ready to take shape. Eating lighter, sattvic foods, the earth naturally presents us with ingredients like nettles, dandelion greens, mushrooms, and strawberries to add a cleansing quality to our digestion. This cleansing effect in our digestion can be welcome or may be impeded by imbalance.

The natural shift in nature is leading us to be lighter and rid ourselves of toxins, or ama, Sanskrit meaning "that which is undigested". Ama can present itself as stagnant energy in headaces, brain fog, creaky joints, acne, eczema, and more. Removing ama restores balance and is a simple act that begins in the kitchen. Adding revitalizing ingredients and supporting with nourishing juices and water enables your body to do what it does naturally.

Yoga poses, extra rest, dynamic activity, and time for tranquility are self-care practices bringing out the best in this time yielding natural stress and change on the body.

Standing out, these two types of scented geraniums complement one another with their unique vitality. common in san francisco, geraniums exude natural essential oils to promote vitality and beauty.